Immersion

Immersion is a word that describes how a player gets so caught up
in the Game Play that they don’t feel like they are playing a video
game. It is like being in a dream state where they are not conscious of
their surroundings, but rather find themselves part of the game itself –
they are inside the Game Play. Breaking this immersion is like waking
up from a dream, or at the very least realizing you are in a dream –
that something is not right, not appropriate, not in the place it should
be. As a forger, you want to create an environment in your map where
the players don’t feel like they are playing a video game, but are
actually in the Game Play itself – and keep them there at all times.

Creating Immersion

There may be other ways to create an immersing environment in your
map, but the best way I know of is through Theme. By forging a Theme
into your map, you place the players somewhere. If they recognize the
Theme, it becomes easier for them to feel like they are there. It helps
them to see themselves where the Theme suggests.

It is important to create a Theme that is new, yet very concise and
obvious. The first map I saw that fit this was Affinity[1], which
presented a Forerunner Theme.

The reason Affinity was such a success in this respect is that the
Architecture was unified through out and it leveraged the Forerunner
Theme of the Canvas’ palette. Playing the Theme of the Canvas’ palette
adds strength to your map’s ability to immerse a player when it is
working with you rather than against you.

Sustaining Immersion

Sometimes you need some extra scenery, like the barricades at the
bottom of the central tower in Hekau, not to add cover, but to help the
Theme come alive. The barricades at the bottom of the central tower make
the central tower seem more realistic, because the way they are
positioned in a circular pattern suggests that the ground level of the
central tower has a purpose other than just being there for the sake of
the map. The presence of the barricades suggest that the structure
itself is used to protect whatever is in the center of the ground floor,
and they do this by suggesting that they themselves are an inner wall
of protection to that same end. The barricades can be used for cover,
but their primary purpose is to deepen the immersion that a player
experiences as they walk into the ground level of the central tower.

I also believe that leveraging the terrain helps a lot in creating a
Theme for the purpose of immersing players. Given the textures on the
blocks in any palette, the details of the Canvas really should be
leveraged. If for no other reason, the terrain can help prevent
repetitive, boring Architecture. On the other hand, the terrain becomes a
part of your Architectural Theme – indeed, it becomes the foundation
for your map’s Theme.

Breaking Immersion

It is much easier to break immersion than to create it or sustain it.
Breaking immersion simply requires a flaw such that players see, do, or
in some way experience something that they shouldn’t see, shouldn’t be
able to do, or should never experience. And there are too many ways to
accomplish any of these.

From a visual perspective, anything that the player sees that looks
out of place has the potential to pop the player out of immersion. One
of the more difficult things you as a forger will face is to create a
unified Theme through out your map where everything seems to belong to
the Theme. But there are other ways to create visual features that break
immersion.

Visual noise can distract a player so much that they can no longer
feel like they are in the Game Play, because they are trying to process
the map features. When Halo 4 came out, the first thing I realized was
that each forge Canvas’ palette was full of noise. Needless to say,
nearly every community map was visually noisy through out, and I dreaded
playing on any of them just for that reason alone. I will talk more
about visual noise in more detail later.

Structural detail can fail to line up, drawing the attention of a player to the fact that the blocks themselves are blocks.

Z-fighting can distract the player and remind him that the structure is made of forge blocks.
When the forging community began seriously forging for Reach’s
Invasion, one approach they adopted to improving video rendering
performance was the gating of blocks. Literally blocks would
disappear when they were no longer needed. Not only did it kill
immersion, it was simply the wrong way to achieve good video rendering
performance. The proper way is to reduce the block count. If the map
cannot be forged due to the blocks that would have to be removed, then
the map becomes an impossibility. Altering the map’s Geometry is
acceptable only when the Game Play lends to it – like when a wall is
destroyed by a bomb exploding. Never gate blocks out of view.

And then there is the teleport. The teleport can be notorious for
breaking immersion in a number of ways. You can instantly find yourself
in a room that looks dramatically different than where you entered the
teleport. You can sense a massive disorientation by utilizing the
teleport. Where the teleport takes you can leave an unintuitive
experience, like it really should have taken you somewhere else instead.

Teleports have a good purpose but you really need to utilize them
judiciously and carefully. Teleports are an exercise in minimizing
disorientation and as such require extra attention to how a player will
perceive the overall experience. Pass through the teleport and stop on
the receiver pad. Ask yourself What does the player see? Ask the correct questions.

The Symmetry Problem

The biggest problem with symmetrical maps is that by the very nature
of their symmetry they look artificial. There are a few reflective
translation maps that do symmetry proud and fully immerse the players
into the Theme of the map despite their strict adherence to symmetrical
design.

Take Narrows for example. Have you taken the time to look out across
the gorge? You would see another bridge structure spanning the gorge
just like the one you are standing on. The bridge is fully symmetrical,
and it works very well as a symmetrical map, because bridges are
symmetrical in real life. The bridge structure off in the distance was
put into the Canvas to help immerse the players on the bridge that forms
the map.

And it isn’t enough to just create a bridge structure as a Narrows
remake, for example. You need the full context of why the bridge is
there. Forge in the gorge. Forge in another bridge structure way off in
the distance if you have to. Take the time to build the Theme to give
your map a context to immerse your players in.

Countdown, a rocket launch facility, has a fully reflective
translation design using the center as a rocket exhaust well. The well
gives the designer the opportunity to surround the well with rings of
platforms in a fully symmetrical Architecture. The facility looks
extremely believable as a result.

Haven looks sort of like an alien religious order site, and the
circular hallway around the perimeter makes it look alien and gives all
the reason to expect the map to be symmetrical. The symmetry fits the
Architecture very well.

Summary

Forging a unified Theme through out your map is a good foundation for
creating an immersing environment. Leveraging the Theme of the Canvas’
palette is also a good start.

Additional scenery can be useful to sustaining immersion as players move about your map.

Anything out of place can break immersion, leading the player to feel
like they woke up from playing in the game to playing a video game.

Symmetry aids in immersing players when symmetry is expected within the Theme of the map.